I ventured forth on my journey hunting the less then elusive acorn. This time of year is better than average for finding acorns and there was no shortage of acorns trees about (generally Red Oaks in the city here.) As I went to my favorite tree haunts I, of course, found a bounty of them.

And that’s where my problem began. Had I seen just one – the deed would be done and I’d have my acorn. But the more I saw, the more the illusionary perfect acorn that arose in my mind.

The more I pursed that delusion, the more inadequate any of the acorns in front of me seemed. I started going to other locations searching more and more deeply. Still not realizing that the more I searched the further I went from my goal.

Finally, I realized I had been caught in the most human (and consumerist) of traps. The more choices I had the less able I was to choose. And the more I followed the mythic ACORN – the less I truly saw and appreciated the many ones right in front of me.

So I closed my eyes and grabbed a handful – and these were the acorns I held clenched my hand. I looked them over carefully, as if they were the only acorns in the world, and saw them with openness. They were all different and yet all perfectly imperfect (or imperfectly perfect!) in each of their own ways. And I’ll show them all off during my talk.

So the “humble” acorn reminded me of a powerful truth or two. And at the very least consider this a gentle nudge to remember to spend some time out in nature finding some truths for yourself. 🙂

BTW – it is only through the sheerest act of willpower I didn’t call this post Acorny (A-corny) story…